Web Conferencing Reviews

Citrix, the online web conferencing software vendor, has been rated one of top solutions in terms of overall user experience. As businesses have come to recognize the value of online meetings, web and video conferencing vendors have been battling it out to be the web conferencing solution of choice. Other popular and highly ranked solutions include GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar. According to “Web Metrics First Half 2010 Survey”, Citrix, GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar are the solutions to beat, based on user-friendliness, cost, overall performance and ability to host ad hoc meetings.

The survey was conducted by Wainhouse Research, who gathered data from various businesses of all sizes and across a number of segments.

The survey concluded that online web conferencing vendor, Citrix, offers users a high value proposition. The service comes at a low cost and offers a suite of collaborative tools. “Continuing with its current strategy of regular product improvements and enhancements, service bundles that create greater client value at low incremental costs and continued campaigns for greater awareness, Wainhouse Research believes that Citrix will drive deeper into global markets and create a ‘Google-like’ phenomenon for accessible, low cost collaboration services.”

The research firm goes onto explain that: “We expect the North America market for conferencing and collaboration services to reach approximately $5.5B by 2014,” said Partner at Wainhouse, Mark Beattie. “Based on these two recent reports, Citrix Online is well placed to capitalize on that industry growth with its web collaboration suite and to continue to score highly in key attributes that customers care about.”

“Customers have driven our success. The findings in these reports prove that our dedicated focus on simplicity, value and a great user experience is what our customers want in their web collaboration services,” says  Citrix GM, Brett Caine. “We’re confident our approach will continue to enable our customers to succeed while benefitting from our ‘simpler is better’ approach to collaboration. We will naturally benefit from this with continued growth and leadership over the long term.”

Dimdim’s real-time, web conferencing collaboration platform, Dimdim Business, is designed for today’s small and medium-sized businesses. Engineered to meet the online collaboration needs of today’s 24/7 business environment, Dimdim Business web conferencing provides the most powerful, unified web collaboration solution on the market including scalability to 1,000s of event participants and accessibility of multiple meeting rooms. Dimdim Business’ innovative features include the world’s easiest screen sharing tools with no need to install any software or Java applet. Perhaps most importantly, Dimdim Business enables companies to present their customers with their own branded web conferencing solution by enabling room, company URL and email template customization.

Dimdim Business enables modification of the entire web conferencing platform including customizing meeting rooms, company URLs, email templates – even custom integrations – allowing business owners to individually brand events and meetings with their own logo, company name and web pages. Businesses can add their company trademark, symbols and colors and use Dimdim’s advanced skinning functionality to bring their own look and feel to the meeting experience. Branding the Dimdim room with the company’s name and logo can also help entrepreneurs, home office or small business owners appear more established than their existing branding or marketing budgets allow and is a feature not available at any price from other web conferencing providers such as WebEx or GoToMeeting.

Dimdim Business is the easiest way to collaborate online and allows businesses to host and see three participants with 2-way video conferencing; customize branded email templates and room skins; record and embed events; receive advanced analytics, event reporting and user reports; build custom API integrations; paste registration widgets to simplify management; manage users and administer access to your account including public and private meetings with a dedicated support services and premium support team.

Dimdim Business web conferencing is offered at only $33 per user, per month!

Today, Dimdim Inc., a web conference solutions provider, launched Dimdim Business, a collaboration solution designed for small and medium businesses (SMBs). Dimdim’s latest web solution will provide businesses with the tools they need to connect to colleagues or business partners. There are many new exciting and innovative features of Dimdim Business that set it apart from many other web conferencing solutions, such as Cisco WebEx.

Dimdim will offer screen sharing tools that are easy to use and do not require any extra software or Java applet installation. Most impressively, companies can even brand their own web conferencing solution by customizing the room skins, company URL and email templates. Companies can add their trademark, symbols and any colors to modify the web conferencing platform. This enables companies to appear to be more established to their customers.

Dimdim Business was primarily designed for SMBs. Company users can record and embed events for legal or record purposes. Businesses can also view advanced analytics, event reporting and user reports. Companies will be able to understand their customer base better with Dimdim’s comprehensive reports. Users can also build custom API integrations, past registration widgets and more with Dimdim Business. Business users can conference with up to one thousand customers or employees. The host can even see three participants with two way video conferencing. Dimdim Business can also be integrated with media sites, such as Twitter, Fcaebook, Moodle and Zimbra.

Dimdim is very proud and pleased with its latest solution. The CEO of Dimdim, DD Ganguly, commented on the launch of Dimdim Business.  Ganguly said, “Dimdim Business comes at a critical time as more and more businesses look to productivity tools like web conferencing to cut costs while extending real-time collaboration. With its simple, intuitive and comprehensive approach to web conferencing and collaboration, Dimdim Business provides organizations with the tools they need to meet, chat, see and collaborate instantly with customers, partners and associated will be immersed in your brand, messages and look and feel as everyone collaborates.”

Dimdim Business is ideal for any company ranging from small start ups to established enterprises. It is an affordable solution at $33 per user, per month. Read more about Dimdim Business on Dimdim’s website.

At most companies, videoconferencing has yet to evolve from a technological parlor trick into an everyday utility like e-mail. One reason is there’s no cheap and easy way to make it available on all the devices people use. Even companies that opt for top-of-the-line equipment from Cisco Systems or Hewlett-Packard often pay nearly $1 million to upgrade the underlying corporate network.

That’s why tech industry veterans are keeping a close eye on Vidyo, whose technology will soon be sold by HP. The 120-person startup, based in Hackensack, N.J., makes software it says can run on almost any device that connects to the Net—and adjusts whether that’s a high-speed link in the boardroom or a cell connection from the 18th hole.

The aim is to bridge the gap between traditional systems costing up to $300,000 for a just-like-being-there telepresence room and cheap but low-quality PC-based services such as Skype—and in a way that lets people using all of these options participate in calls together.

Vidyo focused on implementing a little-used software approach called scalable video coding. The technology strips out data so that devices with weaker signals can maintain a good picture without expensive back-office gear. The program, which runs on a PC, costs $6,000. Another plus: Vidyo’s software can be tweaked to run on new devices.

In June HP announced a deal under which it will bundle Vidyo software on business PCs so workers can make video calls from their desks. HP will also adapt its own high-end telepresence system, dubbed Halo, to work with Vidyo’s technology so corporate buyers can use them without million-dollar network upgrades. While HP has existing contracts to sell gear from Polycom and others, it will be marketing Vidyo’s technology under its own brand.

Homebuilders have been forced to change current business models by implementing cost cutting methods to doing business. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Beazer Homes USA, Inc., is one of the top 10 homebuilders in the United States. With ongoing operations covering 16 states across the country, communication within their geographically diversified corporation is a key component in maintaining their long term business strategy of providing customers with high performance homes, while maximizing their return on invested capital.

By using MegaMeeting.com’s browser-based video and web conferencing technologies, Beazer Homes is able to stay aligned with their goal. Chrissy MacInnis, Facilities Manager, Beazer Homes USA, Inc. stated that “MegaMeeting is one of the best technology investments we’ve made in the last year. It’s affordable, easy to use, and a powerful communication tool.”

For companies with an international customer base, trying to conduct a web conference with clients in different languages can become a logistical nightmare. But conferencing provider OmNovia has released a new Web conferencing platform that enables users to conduct one conference in multiple languages simultaneously.

The platform does not provide automated translations, which the company said the technology for is still years from perfection. Rather, when users log on to the conference, they are prompted with a list of languages they would like to hear. The choice is then routed to translators provided by the conference host, who listen to the audio stream coming from the main room and then simultaneously translate it for the users. The conference attendees do not hear the original audio, only the translated audio in their selected language. Other conferencing room features such as chat, documents and slide shows are also displayed in the language of their choice.

“We tried to use automated translation software but we weren’t happy with the outcome,” said Adem Sengul, product marketing manager at OmNovia. “We decided that to create the best possible user experience, we would go with a U.N.-style translator setup, in which live translators are used.”

The number of languages a company can have simultaneously is completely dependent on the host’s ability to provide translators and presentation materials in the different languages, Sengul said. “There are no limits as far as the technology is concerned.”

“Since day one we have tried to listen to our customers’ requests and create the best conferencing solution possible. This was no exception – one of our customers wanted to have a translation option so they didn’t have to have separate conferences for their Spanish-speaking and English-speaking customers.”

The feature is available now as an add-on to OmNovia’s web conferencing platform. The company has an Alliance Program, in which solution providers and system integrators can incorporate the OmNovia technology into their own solutions to create an end-to-end offering for their customers.

“We want to ensure we working with a company to provide a one-stop solution,” Sengul noted. “To be an Alliance member, the company must offer its own solution aligned with what we’re providing.”

01 Communique, an all-in-one communications software provider, just released its latest web conferencing tool in beta, I’m InTouch Meeting. This online meeting service allows businesses to conduct meetings and more by subscribing to the InTouch service. The beta is free because 01 Communique wants to try out the product before its official public release.

Companies can conduct meetings with up to 15 attendees, with I’m InTouch Meeting. There are many innovative features of this web conferencing software, including real-time screen sharing where the presenter can show documents or anything on their screen with the meeting attendees. Presenters can even use a virtual white board, which allows them to draw or write words for the attendees to see. Remote printing, file transfers and text chat are a few of the other features of I’m InTouch Meeting. Attendees can download sent files or print anything from the presenter’s whiteboard or shared screen.

I’m InTouch Meeting even offers customizable features. Users can control an attendee’s access rights or assign the mouse or keyboard to attendees. There are also many other administrative tools. Users can even view meeting statistics. There are also scheduling capabilities of I’m InTouch Meeting, as users can schedule multiple meetings at once and invite specific attendees.

Help your employees stay productive by collaborating with their fellow colleagues with I’m InTouch Meeting. I’m InTouch allows users to meet over the internet without being in the same room or even the same country. Stay up to date on projects by continuously collaborating over the internet while sharing business files to keep every employee up to date.

InTouch supports Vista, Windows 7 and XP. I’m InTouch Meeting allows shareable licensing so employees can share a company’s I’m InTouch Meeting licenses. The beta is available as a free trial. Sign up for I’m InTouch Meeting beta on 01 Communique’s website to start web conferencing today.

Last week, VenueGen announced the newest release of its 3D virtual meeting and training collaboration platform. This represents a major development as the product imitates the experience of using an expensive TelePresence room, but is delivered as a browser-based web conferencing application.

Marc Beattie, Managing Director of Wainhouse Research, says, “Using VenueGen’s 3D meeting platform is like stepping into the new world of online meetings. It’s difficult to overstate what VenueGen has accomplished here. By combining the impact of web conferencing, TelePresence, and a high-fidelity audio conference, VenueGen has developed the next standard for online meetings, events, and trainings.”

The software allows associates to collaborate with individuals from different locations in a virtual conference environment (if unfamiliar with VenueGen, think Second Life, except in conference rooms). People create avatars by photo upload and a selection of clothing. Once set up in a meeting, each attendee can interact with the environment, share content on virtual displays, converse specifically with other people, and even make nonverbal gestures or expressions. The advantage over 2D conferencing is that there is an unlimited amount of virtual 3D space for content, and features like surround sound and avatar expressions make it easier to distinguish who’s talking to whom. (A disadvantage is that you all look pixelated and just a little silly.)

Along with the developments in screen sharing, VenueGen added an alternative architecture for collaboration that bypasses the bandwidth limitations of screen sharing by distributing content to the virtual attendees so that the content runs locally but is controlled centrally.

VenueGen CEO David Gardner hails his product as a more powerful, engaging conferencing tool than any other solution.

“My team confirmed that they do feel a sense of presence when they are looking at documents together in the 3D setting,” agrees Caroline Avery, Vice President at ACS. “This immersive feeling is stronger than when they only review documents via WebEx… and this immersion does contribute to a more productive working environment.”

It remains to be seen whether VenueGen can really popularize this alternative to traditional web conferencing.

Subscription prices begin at $90 per month.

MeetingZone has become a Cisco WebEx Authorized Channel Partner. The Cisco WebEx Authorized Program allows MeetingZone, as a qualified Cisco® partner, to extend its existing collaboration offerings to include Cisco WebEx solutions.

MeetingZone, one of the world’s leading independent conferencing and collaboration service providers, offers its customers high levels of ease of use and self service functionality. The addition of Cisco WebEx solutions may help position MeetingZone to meet the predicted rise in European web conferencing of 19% over the next five years.

with Cisco WebEx solutions added to MeetingZone’s extensive portfolio, users can, for the first time, benefit from the Cisco WebEx solutions’ functionality, now fully integrated with their superior audio conferencing quality, our market leading on-line transparent billing systems and MeetingZone’s superior customer service.

Cisco WebEx solutions bring people and information together to speed the decision-making process and accelerate innovation. The applications are delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS), helping to enable greater business productivity and faster responses to market changes while taking advantage of the Cisco WebEx Collaboration Cloud to provide highly secure, reliable, high-quality collaborative experiences.

“Cisco WebEx solutions introduce a new way to expand your collaboration practice,” said Chris Jones, Director of Worldwide Channels, Cisco Collaboration Software Group. “By selling Cisco WebEx products and becoming a Cisco WebEx Authorised Channel Partner, MeetingZone has made an investment to offer customers solutions that connect entire business ecosystems, drive costs out of existing business processes, and lead them on the path of business transformation.”